Anxiety Treatment

Are you suffering with constant worry? Do you avoid certain events or places that make you feel unease?

Have you found yourself overwhelmed with negative thoughts of the future and the “what if’s” of life?
Are you restless or easily fatigued?
Do you have trouble sleeping? Or paying attention?
Are you irritable? Or have others told you that you over-react?

Anxiety can be an upsetting and debilitating experience. Negative thoughts and worry can overwhelm your attention and make it difficult to do your work, make plans, get restful sleep, or even get through your daily life.

Unfortunately, anxiety has become all too prevalent in our modern world.

In fact, a recent research study found that over 1 in 3 adults struggle with anxiety. This marks a significant increase since the start of the COVID pandemic. Isolation, illness, death, and social unrest have all contributed to a general sense of worry and unease for many people. For those who were anxious before the pandemic, the stress of the pandemic has only made things worse. The good news, however, is that with help from a Cognitive-Behavioral therapist, you can cope with this difficult period of history and even overcome your worries and get back to some semblance of normal life.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Can Help You Overcome Your Anxiety

While you may feel that your worries are unsurmountable, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT as it is more commonly known, with equip you with the tools you need to relax and think more realistically about your life. Sessions with a CBT therapist are usually 45 minutes per week, during which you will talk about your thoughts and feelings and how they contribute to your anxiety disorder. CBT teaches you to understand your anxiety triggers and the automatic thoughts that you engage in when triggered. Over time, you and your therapist will come to understand your problematic patterns of thinking, or the thought traps you regularly fall victim to. Once you understand your thought patterns then you can go about changing your thoughts to be more helpful, realistic, and calming.

CBT also aims to give you behavioral tools to help you relax when you find yourself in stressful situations that trigger your anxiety. Tools such as mindfulness, progressive muscle relaxation, and positive visualizations have all been scientifically proven to slow your autonomic nervous system and help you relax. Our therapists are experts in these techniques and can help you to master them so that you do not have to be limited by your anxiety.

Anxiety is limiting because it causes people to avoid people, places, and things that trigger their anxiety. During therapy, your therapist will help you to identify those things you have been avoiding. Often time, people are unaware of all the ways in which anxiety has limited them. Your therapist will then help you create a road map to overcoming these fears and start engaging with life again. Over time you and your therapist will work to have you re-engage with people, places, and things that you have been avoiding because of your anxiety using the tools you have learned in session to help you cope. Amazingly, many people find the worst part of overcoming their anxiety is just getting back out there and doing things again.

I am worried about coming to therapy because I think I will get overwhelmed.

This is a common worry that we hear from potential clients. While part of treatment for anxiety is talking about and doing things that trigger your anxiety, we always proceed in a stepwise fashion. Meaning, we ask you to tell us what is do-able for you. We look to work in the area right outside the zone of comfortable but not in the zone of overwhelming. Our mission is to set you on the course of success. When you start to approach things that are anxiety provoking and see that they do not harm or overwhelm you, your mind learns that your fears and worries are unfounded. Over time, baby steps add up to big changes.

If an exercise ever seems too challenging, your therapist will step back and try something different. You and your therapist will work together to make a plan that works for you and your therapist will be there for you along the way to celebrate your successes and help you overcome any setbacks.

My symptoms are completely in my body and not specific to thoughts. Can you still work with me?

It is often the case that clients come into therapy complaining of bodily experiences of anxiety, such as headaches, stomachs, and tension in their neck or back. While it may not be obvious to you how your anxiety is related to your bodily symptoms, it’s likely your physical pain is linked to specific patterns of thought. For some physical symptoms, such as flushing or neck tension, may be the lone symptom of anxiety. For others random pain might be a catalyst for anxiety about an underlying illness or health condition.

When you work with a CBT therapist at Larsen Behavioral Wellness, you will uncover the thoughts that are often right outside of your awareness that are triggering your body to be in pain. With retraining and practice, you will alter these thought-body associations and begin to see your bodily symptoms improve.

Therapy is expensive. Can you help me with getting my insurance to pay for it?

Many potential clients initially worry about the cost of our services. We are not an in-network provider with insurance because we focus our energies helping people overcome their challenges rather than negotiating with insurance companies.

While we are not in network with insurance providers, we do work with your out of network plans. If you provide your insurance information in our intake paperwork, we will provide you with courtesy claims submission, meaning we will submit claims paperwork to your insurance company on your behalf.

You pay us, we submit claims, your insurer pays you based on the specifics of your insurance policy. It’s that easy. We know you are struggling, and we want to make getting help as easy as possible.

Our therapy works!

CBT therapy has been researched for over 20 years and has been proven time and time again to be an effective treatment for anxiety (as well as OCD, depression and a host of other issues). The amazing thing about treatment for anxiety is that you will learn effective techniques within the first few sessions. Many of our clients are amazed at how quickly they begin to feel relief from their anxiety and are able to do things that they haven’t done in a long time.

Take the first step NOW!

You may be wondering if today is the right day to make a change? We invite you to contact us or call us for a free phone consultation to discuss your concerns and decide whether we are the right fit for you. We have several expert CBT therapists in our group with their own unique areas of specialization. When you call, we will walk you through the intake process and match you with the best therapist for your concerns.

Why wait? Call today and take the first step in your journey towards wellness.